A backpacker’s experience in Uyuni

This page is written by Eugenie who had an unforgettable experience in Uyuni.

“We arrived at Uyuni and went directly to all the tourist places to find out what the excursions and their prices were. We found excursions from 1 to 3 nights. As we were like 10 people we managed to get a price, 100 dollars the two nights and three days tour.

It is always advisable to ask out the different agencies (they are almost next to each other) because the prices can vary. The excursion we went on included (First night accommodation in a salt hotel, second night in a shelter in the National Reserve of Andean Fauna Eduardo Abaroa. Breakfast/dinner included an SUV with a guide that takes you to all the touristic places of the tour). We booked the tour, set up a backpack with what we would need those 3 days and left our main backpacks in the agency.

From there, full of excitement, we got on the SUV and started the tour. The first stop was the train cemetery, from here we went to the entry of the salar and had a lunch break. Once finished we started to deeply enter to this place where the ground is literally a mirror made of salt and a thin layer of water. Here we stayed quite a while, it was like being in heaven on earth. From there we went to the salt hotel, had dinner and slept there.

Everything was really good, the only thing is that you had to pay for the shower!

The second day we got up early and went to several places only accessible by truck. We saw an impressive variety of colors, unforgettable landscapes, rocky areas, deserts, colorful lagoons, and mountains. In the afternoon we entered the Reserve of Andean Fauna Eduardo Abaroa, here we had to pay the entry. There we slept in a shelter near a pink lagoon which is where all the flamingos rest. The next day we got up at 5 am and went to visit other lagoons and some splendid geysers. You also have the possibility to take a bath in the hot springs.

Well, from here we returned to Uyuni village. In my opinion, you do not have to spend the night in Uyuni if you make this excursion because there is nothing to do here, Uyuni is just a small town. Maura a friend of mine had her eye infected so I accompanied her to the Uyuni hospital, it was nothing serious but it is was quite an experience, in the Hospital people were really kind, so I can say that whatever happens to you, can go to the Hospital knowing that you’ll be well treated.
Well, everything was really nice but the bad part was the road from Uyuni to Villazon, the most southern city of Bolivia that borders with La Quiaca, Argentina. We wanted to make it by train but it was full, so the other option was to take a bus. In Bolivia, this road is known for being dangerous but we had no other choice, so we took the night bus and it turned out to be the ugliest trip of my life!!
The route was in a very bad state, on the slope you felt that the bus was going to dump every 5 seconds, we could not see anything but the desert. In this complete dark night but the moon was there as a sign of hope…
I swear I could not sleep a second of how bad it was!! The bus was swinging from one side to the other!!

Once we arrived healthy and safe to Villazon, alive but at 5 in the morning, There was not a soul, it seemed kind of dangerous so we went t the bus station and we slept there altogether”.